Chapter 186: A Storm Is Brewing Across the Land

After pondering for a long while, Li Shun still could not find another way to open a new gate.

'Forget it. For now, I can only turn my attention back to Great Qian.'

Li Shun shook his head helplessly.

Over the past half month, Shentu Xin had ridden the surging power of the earth veins, already crossing Great Qian's borders and entering the Heavenly Dao Severance Sea.

After transforming into the [Undefeated Mystic Body], the strength of Shentu Xin's phantom was now sufficient to survive within the Heavenly Dao Severance Sea for an extended period.

Just as its name suggested, the Heavenly Dao Severance Sea was a true wasteland devoid of life.

Pitch-black deathly qi, as dark as ink, filled the surroundings like an enraged ocean in the midst of a boiling storm, stretching endlessly into the distance.

There was nothing else.

Once inside, it was impossible to distinguish up from down or any direction at all.

Only with Fang Han, seated within the Martial Dao World, guiding him could Shentu Xin's phantom barely anchor its direction and continue forward through this sea of death.

Every so often, Shentu Xin's phantom had to return to Fangcun to rest.

As a result, his progress was extremely slow.

'Fortunately, being immersed in the Heavenly Dao Severance Sea all day has also been imperceptibly increasing my resistance to the deathly qi.'

'The pace may be slow, but at least I'm getting closer to the destination, one step at a time.'

'Slow is good. Slow is fast.'

With the Xuanhuang Qi clearing away every obstacle in his cultivation before the upper-tier Spirit Resonance realm, Li Shun's cultivation speed could only be described as advancing by leaps and bounds.

He was now only a single step away from his final breakthrough.

On this day, Kong Zhao suddenly came to visit.

'What brings Senior Brother Kong here?' Li Shun awoke from his meditation and looked at Kong Zhao, whom he had not seen for more than a year. He asked with slight surprise, "Senior Brother Kong, what brings you here?"

Kong Zhao first carefully examined the restrained yet powerful aura hidden within Li Shun's body. Only then did he sincerely praise him.

"Junior Brother Li truly possesses heaven-gifted talent. The two-year deadline has yet to arrive, yet you're already on the verge of reaching upper-tier Spirit Resonance."

"You have far exceeded the expectations of the elders. Now, those other branches of the Confucian school should finally have nothing left to say."

Li Shun smiled modestly upon hearing this.

"It is all thanks to the heaven-defying fortune contained within this secret Grotto Heaven of the Kong Family. If I had been cultivating bitterly in the mundane outside world, I'm afraid I wouldn't even have touched the threshold of lower-tier Spirit Resonance by now."

Kong Zhao threw his head back and laughed heartily.

"Junior Brother Li, there's no need to be so modest. There are at least eight hundred disciples qualified to enter this Grotto Heaven for secluded cultivation. Yet those who can advance with such overwhelming momentum and astonishing speed as you are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns."

"There is still some time before that important matter. I see that you've accumulated enough cultivation now, and coincidentally, my Kong Family is about to hold a grand celebration. Thus, I've come to invite you to temporarily leave seclusion and get some fresh air."

Li Shun became curious.

"A grand celebration?"

Kong Zhao nodded solemnly.

"In one month's time, it will be the five-hundredth birthday of our Kong Family's Ancestor. At that time, the various schools and thinkers throughout the realm, along with all the distinguished officials of the imperial court, will send representatives to offer their birthday congratulations."

"The most important part is..."

Kong Zhao paused, undisguised pride evident in his voice.

"His Majesty will also make an exception and dispatch a special envoy in person to bestow his blessings."

Li Shun could not help but be startled.

The Qian Emperor had long since ceased concerning himself with worldly affairs.

Only matters as momentous as the burning of the Imperial Mausoleum had ever prompted him to make a public response.

Yet who would have thought that today, he would actually dispatch someone specifically to congratulate the Kong Family Ancestor on his birthday?

"Those who can live to five hundred years in this world are already few and far between. And now even imperial favor is coming to their doorstep... It truly deserves to be called a grand event. But would someone of my status even be qualified to attend?"

Kong Zhao answered frankly with a smile.

"On the day of the Ancestor's birthday banquet, there will certainly be a sea of guests and distinguished figures. There will be no shortage of first- and second-rank officials from the imperial court either. Even I, despite being a direct descendant of the Kong Family, have no qualifications to approach the inner core area of the banquet."

"But we can still watch the excitement from the outer perimeter."

Li Shun clapped his hands and laughed.

"To have the fortune of basking in such an occasion is already a blessing earned over three lifetimes. But... Senior Brother, you just mentioned first- and second-rank officials?"

Li Shun looked puzzled.

Kong Zhao explained.

"During the period you've been in seclusion, the long-brewing reform of the imperial court's nine-rank official system has finally been fully implemented."

"All official positions throughout the realm are now strictly divided from ninth rank to first rank, ascending from the bottom upward."

"Local county magistrates begin at ninth rank, while the Left and Right Chancellors currently sit at the very peak of the hierarchy as first-rank officials."

"The Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers are all included within this system."

"According to the new system, there will be one major examination every ten years and a minor examination every three years. Anyone deemed unqualified during the annual evaluations will have their authority stripped and their official rank reduced."

Li Shun narrowed his eyes upon hearing this, immediately grasping the crux of the matter.

"Who decides these evaluations?"

Kong Zhao shook his head.

"The specific regulations governing the evaluations have yet to be officially announced throughout the realm. However..."

He lowered his voice, speaking with a hint of mystery.

"It is said that the evaluation standards were jointly formulated by the Left and Right Chancellors. Furthermore... they specifically reported the matter to His Majesty and obtained his approval."

"There are even rumors that, from now on, the evaluation of Great Qian's officials will be eighty percent determined by Heaven and twenty percent by man."

A strange glint flashed through Li Shun's eyes.

"Eighty percent determined by Heaven? What does that mean?"

"As for the exact regulations, we'll naturally know once the results of the first major examination are released in due course. Given the sweeping changes to the official system, those above have already let it be known that the first evaluation will merely serve as a trial assessment, giving officials throughout the realm time to adapt. Thus, for now, most people throughout the court and the common world are simply watching from the sidelines, waiting to see what happens."

"When the imperial court first proposed reforming the official system, all the civil and military officials thought it was nothing more than another scheme cooked up by the Left and Right Chancellors to compete for power. But now that this nine-rank system has officially been implemented, I instead feel..."

"The intentions of the Left and Right Chancellors are not so simple."

Li Shun's expression turned solemn.

"What does Senior Brother mean?"

Kong Zhao did not answer. Instead, he used his finger as a brush and quietly wrote a line of characters in the air above the table.

"Recently, there have been faint rumors circulating among the people... The Left Chancellor is approaching the end of his lifespan and does not have much time left."

Li Shun stared at the words hanging in the air, his pupils suddenly contracting.

Then he heard Kong Zhao lower his voice.

"How could a dying man still go to such lengths merely for a little power in the imperial court?"

The Left and Right Chancellors had stood together at the heart of the imperial court, governing the people on behalf of Heaven and wielding supreme authority, for more than five hundred years.

Once the Left Chancellor died, that balance would inevitably be broken, unleashing unimaginable turmoil.

At that time, countless officials throughout the Great Qian court would inevitably be swept into the ensuing struggle for power.

Li Shun seemed to recall something and suddenly asked, "What realm is the Left Chancellor in? Creation?"

Kong Zhao nodded.

"Is there still a possibility of advancing further and taking that final step?"

Li Shun also lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Almost none. Since the founding of Great Qian, there have been virtually no Sages born into the world. The Creation realm is already the pinnacle of the Great Dao that cultivators like us can reach."

"Taking that final step is extraordinarily difficult. The Left and Right Chancellors have wielded the authority of the imperial court for hundreds of years, yet even they have ultimately stopped before the Heaven-Earth realm."

Kong Zhao shook his head.

At this point, he once again wrote a line in the air.

"Thus, there are now some utterly outrageous rumors circulating in secret. They claim that the Left and Right Chancellors' reform is actually an attempt to use all the civil and military officials of the imperial court as a furnace, setting up a grand scheme to forcibly break through their bottleneck and obtain a new lease on life. But I believe such talk is nothing but absurd nonsense. After all, His Majesty still stands above them."

"It is true that the Left and Right Chancellors wield power over the entire realm. But even if you gave them ten thousand times the courage, they would never dare defy His Majesty in the slightest."

Li Shun nodded slightly.

Never mind that the Left and Right Chancellors were merely in the Creation realm. Even if they truly managed to break through into the Heaven-Earth realm, they would likely still be no match for the Qian Emperor.

"Back when the Four Sages entered the capital, the Left and Right Chancellors must have witnessed it personally. With their understanding of the Qian Emperor's terrifying foundations, they would never dare risk the condemnation of the entire world by sacrificing the foundations of Great Qian for their own advancement."

"Otherwise..."

Images of the devastation in Lengshan and Yunguan County flashed before Li Shun's eyes.

"If advancing from Celestial Phenomena to Creation was already this devastating, it is impossible to imagine what would happen if someone advanced from Creation into Heaven-Earth."

"More importantly, the Left and Right Chancellors are the leaders of all officials and the examples set for the entire realm. If even they dared tear away all restraints and commit such a destructive act..."

"Then every cultivator under Heaven could follow their example. Great Qian would descend into complete chaos."

Li Shun's thoughts churned, yet he ultimately agreed with Kong Zhao's judgment.

"Still, this reform of the nine-rank official system is indeed strange."

"The system of the Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers in Great Qian dates back hundreds of years before the founding of the dynasty. In essence, this nine-rank official system is not fundamentally different. Why go to such lengths to implement it?"

A faint unease instinctively surfaced in Li Shun's heart.

But the feeling lasted only for an instant before disappearing again.

He could not make sense of it.

For now, he could only suppress it.

Kong Zhao chatted with him for a while longer before arranging to come and take Li Shun out of seclusion when the Kong Family Ancestor's birthday arrived.

Only then did he leave.

Li Shun continued cultivating.

Before long, the day of the birthday celebration arrived.